


I Missed You Before You Were Gone

by Quilty_kelloggs



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Grief/Mourning, Hugs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28185318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quilty_kelloggs/pseuds/Quilty_kelloggs
Summary: Nines comforts Gavin after he finds out his Grandad passed away
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Gavin Reed, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	I Missed You Before You Were Gone

**Author's Note:**

> 2020 can kiss my ass. TW for loss of a loved one.
> 
> It's 4am and I can't sleep, so I'm just going to drop this here and run.

Nines didn’t pay much attention to his partner as he stomped moodily into the precinct and headed straight for the breakroom, the absence of his usual barbed greeting surprising, but not unwelcome. Nines took it as a blessing and continued catching up on the morning’s emails, the latest forensic reports for their current cases taking priority.

Gavin returned to his desk without a word, habitual coffee in hand and dropped into his seat, getting straight to work.

Nines considered the Detective’s unusual silence, hoping it wasn’t a foreshadow to an oncoming storm. For now, he was happy to be able to work in peace. The two continued working in silence, Gavin didn’t comment on any of the forensics reports and Nines was happy to cross reference the new information with current evidence by himself. The lack of distraction from Gavin allowed him to complete this in record time.

‘I’ve analysed the new forensic data with our previous evidence.’

Gavin grunted in response, but his eyes didn’t leave his screen.

‘There is no conclusive evidence to suggest a suspect, however, I should be able to run the new data through the DPD records to finetune a list of possible perpetrators for us to investigate.’

‘Do what you gotta do, Tincan,’ Gavin’s voice lacked its usual harshness.

Nines furrowed his brow, ‘is everything alright, Detective Reed?’

‘Peachy,’ the sound of a vibrating phone drifted from Gavin’s jacket and he cursed under his breath as he pushed away from his desk and shouldered his way into an empty interrogation room.

Nines stared after him as the door slammed shut.

‘What crawled up his ass?’ Hank drawled as he sauntered by on his way to the breakroom.

‘I’m not sure,’ Nines responded, ‘He’s barely said a word all morning.’

‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Nines. ‘Bout time we got some peace and quiet ‘round here.’

Nines mouth tightened to a thin line as he considered the lieutenant’s words. He wasn’t the biggest fan of the Detective’s course nature, but it seemed like something was wrong and he wished the man no ill will. He attempted to return to his work for a few minutes until the interrogation room door creaked open and Gavin emerged, Nines did a double take when he took in the Detective’s appearance. His hair was a mess, as if he’d had his hands clenched in it and his eyes were red and puffy. His usual swagger was non-existent as he silently made his way to Captain Fowler’s office and slipped inside, a few words were exchanged, and Gavin promptly headed out of the precinct. Nines watched him go without a word.

‘RK,’ Fowler called from his doorway, ‘my office.’

Nines head whipped around towards his boss and he immediately rose from his chair and obeyed. He closed the door behind him as Captain Fowler eased himself into his chair.

‘Detective Reed is taking a few personal days,’ he clasped his hands together on his desk, ‘in the meantime I’m assigning you to assist Hank and Connor with their cases, if you have any pressing work to do on your own cases, bring it up with Hank. You’ll all be working together until Reed gets back.’

‘Yes sir,’ Nines hesitated before leaving. ‘May I enquire about the Detective’s wellbeing? He seemed upset.’

‘He’s dealing with a family emergency, not your concern. Back to work.’

Nines left with a nod and headed to the breakroom in search of his superior. He found Hank leaning against a table with Ben Collins and a half empty box of donuts. ‘I’ve been instructed to report to you until Detective Reed returns to work, Lieutenant.’

Hank frowned back at him, coffee cup halfway to his mouth, ‘Why? The fuck’s he gone?’

‘Captain Fowler informed me he is taking a few days off to deal with a… personal issue.’

‘Shit, who died?’

Nines brow furrowed at the question, he hadn’t considered the reason for the Detective’s strange exit from the precinct, but the Lieutenants assumption made sense of his behaviour. ‘I was not informed of the reason for his departure.’

‘Hmm,’ Hank downed the remains of his coffee and grabbed a donut from the box, ‘guess we better get to it then.’ He shoved the donut in his mouth and refilled his coffee before leading Nines back to the bullpen. ‘Connor’s in evidence, get him to transfer all our current case files and get up to speed.’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Just Hank, kid.’

‘Of course, Lieutenant.’

Nines spent the remainder of the day working through the duo’s case files, but his mind was elsewhere. The image of Gavin’s red eyes plagued his HUD as he tried to work through new evidence. This side of the Detective was new to the android, he was beginning to realise he preferred the unveiled insults and unprovoked arguments. The man was unashamedly loud and crass, not the type to slink away unnoticed if he could help it. When 5 o’clock finally rolled around Nines made the snap decision to deviate from his usual route home. In fact, he went in the opposite direction to his own apartment, heading towards Detective Reed’s instead.

Gavin was standing in the middle of his kitchen, frowning at the sink, when he heard knock, he slowly turned his head towards his hallway and stared at the door instead. Another knock. He ambled down the hall to open the door and was faced with a concerned expression and a flashing yellow LED. He took in a breath to say something before just letting it out again.

‘Detective Reed,’ Nines paused, ‘I hope it’s alright that I stopped by.’

Gavin managed something between a shrug and a nod, leaving the door open as he retreated into the apartment.

Nines hesitated before stepping over the threshold, closing the door as he took off his shoes and lining them up against the wall. Gavin’s had been haphazardly left in the middle of the floor, he straightened them up next to his own.

Gavin just stared at them, unseeing. ‘You find something?’ his voice was hollow.

Nines cocked his head, ‘find something?’

‘For the Delaney case?’

‘Detective Reed, I’m not here for work.’

‘Oh!’ Gavin frowned, ‘you want some coffee? Was gonna make coffee.’ He glanced towards his kitchen, the sink remained where he left it.

Nines looked perplexed, the odd flash of red seeping into his LED. ‘I don’t drink coffee detective, I’m an android.

‘…right…right,’ Gavin stood in the middle of his living room, hands hanging at his sides, his gaze flickering between everything and nothing.

‘Is everything alright, Detective?’

‘Huh?’

‘Captain Fowler informed me that you would be taking a few personal days for a family matter. He didn’t give me any further details, however, Lieutenant Anderson made a comment that made me wonder if…,’ he trailed off.

Gavin looked at the android for the first time since he entered the apartment and it only now occurred to him to wonder why he was here at all. ‘Nines, why are you here?’

‘I was worried.’

Gavin shot him a questioning look.

‘Your behaviour at work this morning was very out of character and you seemed to be quite distressed when you left. I felt compelled to check on you.’

Gavin’s eyes began to blur as his face grew hot and he swiped at his nose with a sleeve. Out of all the people he thought might have given a shit, his partner was the one to show up at his door. The same partner who had been at the brunt of his verbal abuse since he began working with him. A pair of socked feet came into view on the patch of floor he was glaring at and he felt a hot tear roll down his cheek. He swallowed down a sob and tried to take a breath, but the words refused to cooperate with his tongue. He fell back onto his couch, his hands grabbing at his hair, as more tears began to line his cheeks.

He felt the couch dip next to him and a large hand came to rest between his shoulder blades. Before his mind registered his own movement, he leaned into the android’s side and planted his face in his chest as he began to sob. The hand slid around to his shoulder while another gently pried his hands away from his head and began stroking his hair. Gavin grabbed at the android’s jacket instead and Nines began to rock them gently.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he realised he was no longer crying, but Nines still had his arms around him. He couldn’t breathe passed the snot in his nose, so he sucked in ragged breaths through his open mouth. ‘I’m sorry,’ his voice came out hoarse.

‘There’s no need to apologise, Detective. Would you like to tell me what happened?’

Gavin pulled away, barely registering surprise when Nines seemed hesitant to let go, and roughly dragged a sleeve over his eyes in an attempt to dry his face. ‘Had some bad news, lost my Grandad this morning,’ his breath hitched as he inhaled deeply, ‘He’d been in hospital for a few days, caught some infection or something.’ He sniffed loudly.

‘I’m sorry to hear that, Detective.’

‘Gavin,’ he swallowed, ‘not at work, it’s just Gavin.’

‘Of course, Gavin,’ Nines smiled at him, ‘you should try to stay hydrated, is it alright if I get you a glass of water from your kitchen?’

Gavin managed a watery smile that didn’t reach his eyes and a nod. The android rose to his feet and Gavin listened to the gentle sounds of footsteps, clinking glasses and a running tap while staring at a faded ring on his coffee table.

When Nines returned, he handed over a glass of water and placed a roll of paper towels on the table. ‘I’m sure a box of Kleenex would be kinder to your nose, but this is all I could find.’

A whispered ‘thanks’ came from Gavin who cradled the glass of water, staring into its depths as if it held all the answers.

‘Is there anything that I can do?’

Gavin shook his head, ‘I’ve booked a flight down to Florida first thing tomorrow to help my Grandma with stuff. Used to go down there every summer to stay with them. They lived right near the beach, used to walk down there with Gramps everyday. Collected shells, built castles, all that shit.’

‘It sounds like you were close.’

Gavin could feel his bottom lip begin to quiver and he bit down on his tongue, ‘yeah, we used to be. Got a bit harder to get down there so often after I joined the force, you know?’

‘Would you like me to stay until you need to leave?’

‘Can’t ask you to do that.’

‘You’re not asking, I’m offering.’

Gavin raised his head to stare into Nines sincere gaze.

‘I’d be happy to stay and keep you company, Gavin.’

‘Why?’ his voice cracked, ‘I’ve only ever been a dick to you.’

‘We’re still partners, we’re meant to look out for each other. You may be an ass, but I don’t like to see you in pain. I actually spent most of the afternoon wishing I could hear you insult me instead of remembering the look on your face as you left.’

The corner of Gavin’s mouth quirked up and he started gulping down the glass of water before he could start crying again. The empty glass landed on the coffee table and he grabbed a paper towel to blow his nose.

Nines looked at him expectantly, patiently waiting for his answer.

‘If you really wanna stay, I ain’t gonna stop you, Tincan.’

**Author's Note:**

> Losing a loved one is hard. Losing a loved one in the midst of a pandemic in a country in national lockdown a week before Christmas when said loved one lives nearly 200 miles away? Makes you write a fanfic and post it here for the first time, I guess...
> 
> To all of you out there going through a similar experience, I am truly sorry. You are not alone.


End file.
